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Why Pray for Jerusalem?

There are a number of obvious reasons why we should pray for Jerusalem. We are commanded to pray for the peace of Jerusalem in Psalms 122:6. That is not a suggestion, but a command to the people of God.

Also, it is the capital of the promised land for the chosen people of God. It is also the prophetic hourglass for the ending of the age of grace. It will be the city to which the Messiah will return to redeem humanity.

Then, there is the honorable reason to pray for Jerusalem, because the creator has chosen this very small piece of real estate to place His name. This has been a subject of much debate among the religions of the world. Nevertheless, the mention of Jerusalem is woven throughout the fabric of the Old and New Testament.

It seems that Isaiah and Ezra were the final compilers of II Chronicles using the public records of the nation of Israel. Among the recorders were Nathan, Gad, Iddo, Ahijah, Jehu, and others.

Solomon said, "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who hath with His hands fulfilled that which He spake with His mouth to my father David, saying, Since the day that I brought forth My people out of the land of Egypt I chose no city among all the tribes of Israel to build an house in, that My name might be there; neither chose I any man to be ruler over my people Israel:" 2 Chronicles 6:4-5

But I have chosen Jerusalem, that my name might be there; and have chosen David to be over my people Israel.

This is not a theological debate nor a philosophical discussion, but these are the Chronicles of Israel recognized by every clear-thinking historian.

In God's sovereign will He chose Jerusalem to be the center and the capital of the earth. He chose Jerusalem for the place the temple would stand. He chose David to be the King.

This is the arbitrary, absolute will of God in making this choice.

Jerusalem is the only place in the universe where God inclined His heart to the heart of man in such a unique way as He did with Abraham.

Abraham, the father of a multitude. Revered by the three monotheistic religions. Judaism, Islam, and Christianity.

Why does Abraham stand out as a landmark in the spiritual history of the world and what does he have to do with Jerusalem?

He was born in Ur of the Chaldee's, of parents who were heathen. There is little known of him until he was in his seventies. We know that he left Ur of the Chaldee's on a journey to the land of Canaan.

He received a distinct revelation from God Almighty to leave his home not knowing exactly where he was going but believed the promise that God would provide. He went by faith in the God that called him. He surrendered the seen for the unseen.

The Lord said to Abram that he should get out of his country, and from his kindred, and from his father's house and that he should go to a land that He would show him.

The Lord said that He would make of him a great nation, and that He would bless him and would make his name great and that he would be a blessing.

God said, "And I will them bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curse thee: and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed."

So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran." Gen.12:3-4.

Abraham believed in God and it was counted unto him for righteousness.

Abraham's story has been told for thousands of years how he offered up his son Isaac for a sacrifice to God. Abraham did not withhold his only son of promise. What a demand God had required of Abraham. What God wanted was Abraham's heart, not Isaac's life.

It was in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where Abraham bound Isaac. It was on Mount Moriah that Jacob laid his head down and dreamed he saw angels descending and ascending on a ladder.

It was Mount Moriah where King David purchased Ornan's threshing floor for 600 shekels of gold by weight that the plaque might be stayed. It was Mount Moriah where the first and second Temple stood.

"As the navel is set in the center of the human body, so is the land of Israel the navel of the world....situated in the centre of the world, and Jerusalem in the center of the land of Israel, and the sanctuary in the center of Jerusalem, and the holy place in the center of the sanctuary, and the ark in the center of the holy place, and the foundation stone before the holy place, because from it the world was founded." Midrash Tanchuma, Qedoshim.

The Temple Mount is arguably the most coveted archaeological, religious, historical and cultural piece of real estate in the world.

The Sages said about the Western Wailing Wall, "The Divine Presence never moves from the Western Wailing Wall."

The Temple mount continues to be the focus of prayer for Jews from all over the world. The Jewish heart stirs upon approach to the last remnant of the Holy Temple.

All of the heartache and suffering of Jewish history is contained in those massive stones. Millions of tears have been shed and millions of prayers have been uttered at the Western Wailing Wall and from around the globe for this Holy site.